Spain: The Astún Yeti (2007)

Spain: The Astún Yeti (2007)
By Javier Resines

The story we remember today in our blog prompts us to take a small step back in time. Small, in that we are going back to late May 2007, which isn't so far away from us...

Taking advantage of the good weather, Carlos S. Ollés - the event's protagonist - decided to make a visit to the Pyrenees with his two daughters. In the afternoon, as they walked back toward their car, having visited the ski slopes of Astún, the eldest daughter pointed out a footprint that caught her attention beside the trail. The small group approached and attested that the mark on the ground indeed resembled that of a bare foot - albeit an enormous one - and with a disproportionately large big toe.

This was not the first time that Carlos came across mystery in the form of a footprint: in 1992, on the opposite slope of the same mountain, he was with a group of friends in the valley of Canal Roya, heading toward the summit of Pico La Raca along a trial when he discovered some strange prints in the snow. According to his own account, "they were larger and deeper than normal, and the big toe was most prominent of all." He was likewise startled by "the distance between strides, which were somewhat impossible to follow given the sloping terrain."

What creature could have left those unusual marks in at least two separate occasions, separated by a distance of some 10 kilometers? An unknown hominid that dwells in the Pyrenaic Region, or a tourist bent on playing a joke?

(Translation (c) 2011, S. Corrales, IHU. Special thanks to Javier Resines)